Rejected from my safety school what should I do?

[joodavid12]

Just like the title says I was just rejected from my safety school (DO school)
My current stats are 3.09 GPA and 515 on MCAT
My low GPA is from my first two years in college where I got an academic suspension.
I have been in school for 8 years (switching majors) resulting in 230 credits....so postbacc won't really budge my GPA.
I am thinking of doing a SMP.
However, I am not sure if I am even competitive for SMP.
My clinical hours are 6000 hours as a medic (2 years military)
50 hours in clinical volunteering
350 hours in shadowing
300 hours in paid clinical experience.
+ one publication in the near future.

I am currently thinking of getting an EMT so I can have more clinical experience hours for SMP.
What are your thoughts?

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[voxveritatisetlucis]

There’s no such thing as a safety school in med school admissions

 

[deleted1095841]

Med school admissions are random enough that just because school A is "more competitive" than school B, it does not mean that if you get into A, you will also get into B. Conversely, not getting into B does not say much about your chances of getting into A. You may end up getting into a school much higher on your list than the safety school. It's not over till it's over.

 

[superdesperate]

What is your gpa trend? And you really should have applied to more DO schools; a 3.09 is pretty bad for MD schools even when paired with an excellent MCAT unless you have a good upward trend. Your volunteering hours are also lacking. If you do choose to go through the SMP route, I'd suggest linkage programs.

 

[Moko]

Your first mistake was thinking of any medical school as your "safety school.". Your second mistake was thinking any school would be a safety given your 3.09 GPA.

A SMP with a linkage may possibly be a good option for you if you are confident you can do well. I would also recommend getting more volunteering experience as well, as that seems to be a deficiency in your application. Lastly, have someone vet your essays to make sure the content and tone are appropriate. Just my thoughts.

 

[Med Ed]

Just like the title says I was just rejected from my safety school (DO school)
My current stats are 3.09 GPA and 515 on MCAT
My low GPA is from my first two years in college where I got an academic suspension.
I have been in school for 8 years (switching majors) resulting in 230 credits....so postbacc won't really budge my GPA.
I am thinking of doing a SMP.
However, I am not sure if I am even competitive for SMP.
My clinical hours are 6000 hours as a medic (2 years military)
50 hours in clinical volunteering
350 hours in shadowing
300 hours in paid clinical experience.
+ one publication in the near future.

I am currently thinking of getting an EMT so I can have more clinical experience hours for SMP.
What are your thoughts?

EMT isn't going to help someone with 6000 hours as a military medic.

What does your non-clinical volunteering look like? How about your school list?

 

[Obnoxious Dad]

Just like the title says I was just rejected from my safety school (DO school)
My current stats are 3.09 GPA and 515 on MCAT
My low GPA is from my first two years in college where I got an academic suspension.
I have been in school for 8 years (switching majors) resulting in 230 credits....so postbacc won't really budge my GPA.
I am thinking of doing a SMP.
However, I am not sure if I am even competitive for SMP.
My clinical hours are 6000 hours as a medic (2 years military)
50 hours in clinical volunteering
350 hours in shadowing
300 hours in paid clinical experience.
+ one publication in the near future.

I am currently thinking of getting an EMT so I can have more clinical experience hours for SMP.
What are your thoughts?

Your best option is a relatively new DO school. No MD school will take you with a 3.09.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums. You haven't given us a WAMC template so I can't give you better advice. I don't know what safety school you are talking about. Did you interview there?

What was your GPA breakdown by year? I also am not sure about your activities, but I won't comment because I am making too many assumptions about what has been posted here. I need your own descriptions of what your did.

You are a good candidate for an SMP on face value.

 

[LizzyM]

IMHO two years as a volunteer in the US Military is enough volunteering to satisfy even the most picky adcom. Most likely the academic suspension (an IA) and the poor GPA are the problem here and with >200 credits there is no way to budge that. If the OP is willing to bet $50K that he can outperform most medical students, then the SMP might be a reasonable choice but to do poorly means GAME OVER so choose wisely.

 

[USN2MD]

Similar stats, did SMP, cycle is going well. It’s possible but you also are leaving stuff out as others put. Ignore people who say you have no chance at a MD.

 

[Obnoxious Dad]

Well, I thought that a little bit of data might illuminate the issue here. See this:

https://www.aamc.org/media/6056/download?attachment

The average GPA for matriculants at MD granting medical schools last fall was 3.75 and the standard deviation was .24. It's been a long time since I took statistics. However, I think if the distribution below the mean is normal less than 2% of matriculants have a GPA below 3.27. That's why I think he should go the DO route. A 515 on the MCAT would be a favorable outlier at a DO school.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Apply to every DO school and stop thinking there's something called a safety school

 

[GettinAfterIt]

I had a similar app with a slightly higher GPA but lower MCAT, my cycle is going well (Academic dismissal -> Army Medic -> Finally finished degree). I'm curious what schools you applied to? I think if you applied to some of the new, lower-tier DO schools you'd have a shot.

 

[chssoccer7]

IMHO two years as a volunteer in the US Military is enough volunteering to satisfy even the most picky adcom. Most likely the academic suspension (an IA) and the poor GPA are the problem here and with >200 credits there is no way to budge that. If the OP is willing to bet $50K that he can outperform most medical students, then the SMP might be a reasonable choice but to do poorly means GAME OVER so choose wisely.

Has the OP mentioned why it was only 2 years? To my knowledge, no military contract is for only 2 years. If OP was sent home early due to disciplinary reasons, that could be an additional cause for concern.

Obviously could be a medical issue or some 2 year deal I don't know about which would be a non-issue, but it was the first thing I thought when I saw 2 years of service.